Fireplace screen mounting bracket



Feb. 28, 1961 D. o. MALAFOURIS FIREPLACE SCREEN MOUNTING BRACKET Filed Jan. 2, 1959 ullllu Dannie QMclczFouris INVENTOR.

BY uz 2,973,176 FIREPLACE SCREEN MOUNTING BRACKET Dannie 0. Malafouris, Portland, reg., assignor to Hearth Craft, Inc., Portland, 0reg., a corporation of Oregon Filed Jan. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 784,532

3 Claims. (Cl. 248-228) This invention relates to brackets for mounting screens across fireplace openings.

Normally fireplace woven wire screens are mounted by drilling and tapping the lintel and then bolting the screen assembly thereto. This procedure obviously is time consuming and requires special tools. In addition, the screen is not easily adjustable or removable once it has been fixed in position.

Accordingly it is the general object of the present invention to provide a fireplace screen mounting bracket which is universally applicable to fireplaces of diverse opening sizes, which is easily installed without special tools and skills, which is easily adjustable to various positions, which may be installed without defacing the fireplace, and which is easily removable.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a sectional view through the lintel of a fire place illustrating the manner of attachment of the herein described screen mounting bracket; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view, looking upwardly, of the herein described fireplace screen mounting bracket in the position of Fig. l.

The fireplace screen mounting bracket of my invention is adapted for installation in a fireplace opening, the upper surface of which is defined in the usual manner by bricks 10, mortar 12 and lintel 14, all of which are horizontally disposed at the top of the opening as viewed in the drawings.

At spaced intervals along its length the lintel bar supports the herein described brackets, the intervals being determined by such factors as the width of the fireplace opening, the weight of the screen to be mounted, and the like. In the usual installation but two brackets are required.

Each bracket includes a grip bar 16, the forward end 18 of which is reversely bent and preferably formed with a knife edge so that it will penetrate plaster 12; The

rear end 2|] of the grip bar may be bent upwardly substantially at right angles to the length of the bar.

It is provided with a tapped opening into which thumb screw 22 is threaded. Thus by placing the grip bar in the position indicated in Fig. 1 with the reversely bent end 18 receiving the forward edge of the forwardly extending portion of the lintel and screw 22 bearing against the upwardly extending rear face thereof, the bar may be anchored securely in any desired position.

Supported bygripbar 16 and relatively movable with respect thereto in a longitudinal direction, isa bracket bar 2-4. Although various means may be employed for securing the bracket bar to the grip bar, it is preferred,

to provide the former with a longitudinal slot 26 which registers with a tapped recess or opening transversely through the grip bar. A screw 28 then may be employed to fix the bracket bar in any desired position of 1ongitudinal adjustment as required to extend or retractthe fireplace screen relative to the front face ofthe fireplace, which front face is shown in Fig. 1 to be .the left hand side of the bricks 10.

32 to which vertical plates 34 are welded or otherwise afiixed at spaced intervals. The decorative brass headplate 36 of the screen assembly then may be attached to plate 34 by crimping the edges around the plate or in other suitable manner. A woven wire screen 38 depends fro-m the supporting members in the indicated manner and the entire assembly then is bolted to segment 30 of the bracket bar by means of bolts 40.

Thus by the present invention I have provided a fireplace screen mounting bracket which is easily installed without the use of special tools or skills in fireplace openings of any of the usual dimensions without defacing the fireplace. sideways or inwardly or outwardly as required to fit the opening. Then when desired it can be removed completely merely by releasing thumb screws 22.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A bracket for suspending screen structures from fireplace lintels having a forwardly extending portion and an upwardly extending rear face, the bracket comprising a grip bar having on one end a reversely bent segment dimensioned to grip the forward edge of the lintel and on the other end an angularly bent segment adapted to overlie the rear face of the lintel, means for securing the bent segment to the rear face of the lintel providing with the forward edge grip opposite end suspended mountings for the bracket, a bracket bar underlying the grip bar, means for releasably securing the bracket bar to the grip bar while permitting relative movement thereof in a longitudinal direction for extending and retracting the bracket bar relative to the front face of the fireplace, and means on the outer end of the bracket bar for suspending a fireplace screen therefrom.

2. The bracket of claim '1 wherein the reversely bent segment of the grip bar is provided with a knife edge adapted to penetrate mortar surrounding the lintel.

3. For use with a fireplace having a front opening defined by a horizontal upper edge and a supporting lintel having a forwardly projecting portion extending along the horizontal upper edge and an upwardly extending rear face extending along a rear surface of thefireplace' structure defining the said upper edge: a bracket for suspending a fireplace screen structure from the lintel comprising a grip bar having a horizontal portion lying along ment into overlappinggripping relation with the front edge of the forwardly projecting portion of the lintel, thereby providing opposite end suspended mountings for .the bracket, a bracket barunderlying the grip bar, means for securing the bracket bar to the grip bar. for movev a ment thereof for extending and retracting the bracket bar relative to the front face of the fireplace, and means on,

The screen may be easily adjusted either the outer end of the bracketbar for suspending a fire- 1,369,747 pla'ee screen therefrom. v 1,397,456 1,522,412

References Cited in the file of this patent 1,569,708

. v UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2,518,005 315,403 Adams Dec. 31, 1907 21888-226 1,288,945 Lovekin Dec. 24, 1918 4 Jordan Feb. 22, 1921 Robinson Nov. 15, 1921 Bordignone Jan. 6, 1925 Burns Ian. 12, 1926 Gustafson Aug. 8, 1950 Andriot May 26, 1959 

